The value of property stolen on O'ahu last year jumped 14 percent from the previous year, final 2004 crime statistics from Honolulu police show, a sign that burglaries and theft continue to plague local neighborhoods.

The increase, to $45,339,476 from $39,701,626, occurred at the same time that the number of property crime arrests and the number of reported offenses fell.

Police had attributed the declining arrests and reported crimes to better policing practices and the targeting of career criminals. The number of people arrested on O'ahu for burglary, theft and car theft fell by almost 800 last year and the number of reported offenses dropped 9 percent, from 48,306 in 2003 to 44,121 last year.

Police and a criminologist said the rise in the value of stolen property indicates that thieves are targeting more valuable items.

The drops in arrests and offenses did little for Mike Abe of Kaimuki, whose gas generator was taken while he was home last year.

About a year ago, four men and a woman backed a pickup truck into his garage across the street from Kapaolono Park, loaded up his generator and drove off, a witness told him. At the time, 1:15 p.m. on a Saturday, Abe was inside sitting on his couch watching football. Abe's German shepherd mix, who was chained to the generator, didn't make a sound when the thieves let him go.

Abe has had items stolen from his Kaimuki home twice in the 14 years his family has lived there, and the Honolulu attorney has accepted property crime as an unavoidable part of city living. Roughly 17 of the 22 homes around Kapaolono Park in Kaimuki have been burglarized in the past 18 months, Abe said, prompting police to step up patrols.

"We became vulnerable," he said. "We're making a much more concerted effort to get to know our neighbors. We lock the garage up. We built a house with commercial windows that lock, and we have dead-bolts. It is very difficult to get into our house."

PROPERTY RECOVERED

The value of stolen property included more than $10 million in jewels and precious metals — the single largest category other than "miscellaneous" — and more than $7 million in cash last year.

Police recovered $4,762,793 worth of property last year and cleared about 8.3 percent, or 3,674 of the 44,121 property crimes that occurred. Deputy Police Chief Paul Putzulu said property crimes remain a top priority for the department, despite the drop in arrests and reported offenses.

As to why the value of stolen property increased, "It is difficult to say without reviewing all the cases, but it could be that suspects are taking more expensive items," Putzulu said.

Alfred Blumstein, a criminal justice expert at the Heinz School at Carnegie-Mellon University, agreed.

"More valuable stuff is out there now. Instead of a $200 TV, you now have HDTV's worth $1,400. The fact that the number (of offenses) are coming down even though the arrests per crime are coming down is encouraging," he said in a telephone interview from Pittsburgh yesterday. "It could be more sophisticated crooks finding the good stuff."

He also cautioned that property crimes are not traditionally the "highest priority" of a police department.

Blumstein did acknowledge that Honolulu police do respond to more property crime calls than departments in comparable jurisdictions on the Mainland. Typically property crimes are among the hardest to solve since most don't leave any witnesses, he said.

To combat the problem, which law enforcement officials have labeled a residual product of the crystal methamphetamine epidemic, Honolulu police have created property crime task forces and targeted career criminals.

Commanders in all eight police patrol districts are asked to identify criminals who have lengthy property crime histories. Detectives then focus on those individuals known to roam their beats.

The results have been tangible. Property crimes have fallen every year since 2002.

TALKING TO POLICE

Abe, who also serves as chairman of the Kaimuki Neighborhood Board, said that increased communication with police officers during monthly board meetings has made a significant difference.

Talking to neighbors about crime, forming a consensus, and then forwarding the findings to police has helped officers to better tailor patrols to fit the neighborhood's needs, he said.

The day Abe's generator was stolen, a woman he knows was walking her dog through the neighborhood and saw the group in Abe's garage. She told Abe that as she passed his house, a woman who was with the men threatened her, prompting her to hurry off. Abe's dog didn't bark once despite having five strangers and a truck parked right in front of him.

Police never caught the men or found the generator that was worth a couple hundred dollars, he said.

"The dog did well (as a watchdog) until the neighbor kids made him friendly," Abe said. "We've developed a fairly good relationship (with police). We talk to them and we give them details."

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.